The 2024/25 Season Review

The 2024/25 season was a frustrating season for us, leaving us with no trophy and a second-place finish in the Premier League for the third year in a row. By Arteta's admission, we went backwards this season in the domestic league, with 74 points won, 15 goals fewer than last season (89), 79 goals scored vis-a-vis last season's 91, and 34 goals conceded against last season's 29. 

Major reasons behind the regression were a number of long-term injuries to key players and two-tier refereeing. 

Our attack on the right-hand side was a driving force for last season's club record number of goals scored. This season, all of Saka, Odegaard and White were sidelined for a long spell in separate periods, which meant that the trio played together only a handful of times. Odegaard struggled all season to re-discover the last season's form. Our frontline was decimated by injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Havertz, which kept both of them out of action for a long term. Tomiyasu, a versatile defender, only featured for 15 minutes throughout the season as he underwent two knee surgeries in a season. Big Gabi's hamstring injury at the beginning of April ended his season prematurely. Also, an ankle injury cut short Timber's season. The Dutch defender was having an impressive season despite having to play through pain. White's return to full fitness finally allowed Timber to undergo a surgery. Saliba also missed the final game of the season through a hamstring injury. Towards the end of the season, Arteta repeatedly stated that his side had nothing left in the tank, which appears to be true.

Even new signings were no exception when it came to injuries. Merino's Arsenal debut was delayed for two months due to a fractured shoulder that he suffered in his first training session. Calafiori also spent his fair share of time in the treatment room. 

Secondly, a number of sending-offs cost us dearly. Critics may point out the lack of discipline, but we seemed to have been on the wrong end of decisions on far too many occasions. The new rule of a yellow card for kicking the ball away to delay free-kicks or throw-ins was scarcely seen being applied later in the season, after both Rice and Trossard were sent off against Brighton and Man City, respectively. It seemed that if there was any rule to punish Arsenal, it was applied. A clash of heads between Saliba and Joao Pedro of Brighton ended up with a penalty decision against us. Also, Lewis-Skelly's alleged foul that started outside the box led to a penalty awarded for Everton. Unlike these decisions that cost us points, Lewis-Skelly's later rescinded sending-off did not affect the result, but Michael Oliver's outrageous decision consolidated our belief that the referees have a different standard for officiating our games. Without VAR, we could have finished just 2 points behind the champions Liverpool.

Despite all these adversities, we still finished the season runners-up in the Premier League and secured a Champions League spot for the third consecutive season. Reaching a semi-final certainly points to an upward trajectory in our Champions League journey, after narrowly losing to Bayern Munich on aggregate in a quarter final last season on our return to the elite European competition. 

Quarter-final wins against Real Madrid over two legs were arguably the highlights of the season. Some say that an emphatic 5-1 win over Man City was also one of the best moments of the disappointing season. Even the "Arteta Out" camp cannot ignore the fact that the Spaniard made us hard to beat against traditional Big Six. We have been unbeaten against them for the last two seasons.

The gap to the champions was much closer in quality than the final standings of the two sides indicate (10 points), but we have a lot of work to do to finally win the Premier League. Firstly, we have to turn those draws (14 throughout the season) into wins. In particular, the league-high number of points dropped from winning positions was  shocking reading. With our defence still being the best in the league, scoring more goals will help us to turn draws into wins. Arteta stressed his desire for more firepower. 

Secondly, we need depth in the squad to allow more rotation so that key players can be protected from mental fatigue, as well as injuries. We need a stronger bench.

As Arteta said, it will be a big summer for us. Josh Kroenke is also making the right noises. Arteta now admits that we need prolific goal scorers. He is no longer illusioned to believe that everyone chipping in goals is the best way to achieve the goal. Havertz was on course to become a much craved for 20+ goal scorer before his lengthy injury lay-off, but we need a natural goal scorer to make an immediate difference.

Our transfer activities last summer were poorly planned and badly executed. The last-minute decision to allow Ramsdale to leave the club for Southampton forced us to bring in Neto from Bournemouth on loan. Sterling was also signed on a season-long loan from Chelsea. At that time, many, including pundits, thought it was a coup as the deal involved no loan fees for us to pay and two thirds of his massive wage bills were paid by Chelsea. However, as it turned out, he was no longer the player he used to be. He contributed absolutely nothing all season. In fact, having him on loan blocked us from bringing another player in on a temporary basis in January, when we were desperately short in numbers. Also, Nelson was allowed to go on loan to Fulham for more playing time, which left us short in numbers and quality for the coming season.

On the positive side, it was an amazing breakout season for Myles Lewis-Skelly. He came through the ranks and made a left-back position his own. 

Another stand-out player was Declan Rice. We were frustrated with his slow start to the season, but his influence grew as the season wore on. His attacking prowess developed as he was deployed more in a No.8 position. In a season when a number of our players failed to find their best form due to injuries, this was Partey's best season in Arsenal colours in terms of fitness. He can help Rice to develop further as a No.8. Let's hope that he and the club can reach an agreement to extend his stay at Arsenal. 

Another candidate for the Arsenal Player of the Season is David Raya, who won the Premier League Golden Glove award for the second consecutive season, with 13 clean sheets to his name. His distribution was a suspect at times, but his shot-stopping ability was exceptional. He pulled off stunning saves on a number of occasions. Few now question Arteta's decision to bring in Raya in place of Ramsdale, which was extremely unpopular at that time.

Hopefully, it will be an exciting transfer window as Arteta expects. Andrea Berta was appointed the new Sporting Director at the end of March, and is already at work. Expectations are high for him to pull off multiple high-quality signings this summer to take us to another level. Also, let's hope that we will have better luck with injuries next season.